Nearing Tomorrow
by Shadokin
Summary: Ellie was a bit lost, so Riley helped ground her. [Modern!verse]


Riley jerked awake, hand stretching out to grab her blaring phone from her bedside table. Eyes still blurry from sleep, she answered without reading the caller ID.

"Hello…"

"R-Riley? Are you awake?"

"Ellie?" Riley rubbed her eyes. "This better be an emergency, do you know what time—"

"Yes, it's an emergency. I need to see you right now." She sounded more frantic than usual. "Head to our place, I'll meet you there."

"Okay, okay," Riley said, getting to her feet. "Be there in ten."

She could hear the sharpness of Ellie's breathing from the other end. Then there was a click, and Riley threw the phone to her bed, moving relatively quickly to throw on a pair of shoes and her jacket. Making sure to take her house keys, she headed down to the garage to get her bike.

It was still dark outside. Riley hopped on her bike and peddled on, and with each block she passed her worry increased, trying to guess at what happened that Ellie couldn't put off seeing her.

She finally reached the bridge, and hopped off her bike. She checked her phone one more time incase Ellie had tried to reach her since she left the house, but she was met with an empty screen.

Taking her bike with her, Riley walked off the road and downhill to the beach of rocks underneath the bridge, spotting the outline of Ellie leaning against the wall at the opposite end, arms crossed in front of her, and whistling? Riley furrowed her brow, letting her bike drop to the ground and heading over to her friend.

"Ellie, what's this about?"

Head snapping to the sound of her voice, Ellie moved so quickly Riley could only open her arm to prepare for the incoming hug.

"You're here." Ellie said a second before she hit into Riley, arms going around her shoulders and hugging her close. Riley steadied herself, keeping them both from falling over as she took on Ellie's weight.

"Of course I'm here. Ellie, what's wrong?" Riley asked, and arms squeezed her tighter before reluctantly pulling away. Ellie met her eyes and stared, but then she was bright with unshed tears, and Riley's worry only grew.

"What happened?" Is it Marlene?" She asked, her hand reaching up to Ellie's shoulder.

"I," Ellie started, choking up. "I had a nightmare."

Riley stopped. "What?"

"You were dead," Ellie went on, hands moving about as she talked. "There were these things, they… infected. And we could've gotten away, but I, I fell, and we got bit."

She was trembling, and Ellie broke eye contact with Riley, looking down between them while Riley traced circles at Ellie's shoulder in an attempt to sooth her.

"Hey," Riley spoke in a hushed voice. "Hey, look at me." A smile came to her face. "I'm alive."

Ellie nodded slowly, seeing as much, and pulled away. Riley's smile lessened, trying to imagine how vivid the dream must have been, to have shaken her so.

"I know." Ellie said. Arms swung at her sides in exasperation, and she released a loud sigh. "I just…"

There was something that she wanted to get out. Ellie couldn't stop moving, a step one way, two steps the other. She glanced back to Riley, who was beginning to feel fidgety from watching her.

"When I woke up," Ellie said at last. "I didn't realize where I was. I walked outside to grab some fresh air, and before I knew it I was calling you…"

Riley stared at her in concern. Ellie paused, biting her lip and looking torn.

"Do you want to come back home with me?" Riley asked, knowing at the very least she would walk Ellie to whichever home regardless. She still looked freaked by what had haunted her dreams, and Riley didn't want her to feel anymore alone than she already looked.

Ellie arms lifted up, unsure, and then she placed her hand over the underside of her forearm. There was a thoughtful expression there as she traced the pattern of something that wasn't there.

Silently, her eyes moved from her arm to Riley, and she reached forward, taking her hand and bringing in up in between them. Riley was quiet, ignoring the tingling sensation as Ellie pressed her thumb to the base Riley's, a smile tugging at her lips.

"No bite." She said in a soft voice. Riley focused on the wonderment Ellie expressed, seeing how she prodded Riley's hand to make sure nothing was there.

Her movements slowed, but Ellie didn't let go of Riley's hand, holding it firmly in her own. Her eyes kept glancing down, and Riley could feel her cheeks heat up, wondering if maybe she should be the one to lean forward.

"Can we… stay here awhile?" Ellie asked, the fear of her nightmare returning to her face, weighing her features down as she clutched Riley's hand a bit tighter.

"Yeah, sure." Riley nodded. "We can watch the sunrise together." She smiled again when Ellie's lips twitched upwards.

"Sounds poetic." She said with a chuckle.

Riley raised a brow, smiling more when she moved to intertwine their fingers and Ellie didn't pull away. Instead, she got a brief squeeze before their arms dropped down together. Hand in hand, they left the underbelly of the bridge, making it to the halfway point on the hill and sitting down at each other's side.

By now there was already light peeking out in the distance, but the sun was still tucked away behind the horizon.

"Um, so, do you want to talk about it? Your nightmare?" Riley asked. She felt Ellie shrug beside her, pulling her own arm a bit as she did so.

"Not right now." Ellie said, and lowered her head until it was resting on Riley's shoulder. When she breathed in, Riley could feel it. Shifting her arm to better hold Riley's hand, Ellie tilted their locked palms just so, obviously checking where Riley had apparently been bitten.

Ellie blew out a relaxed breath, finding comfort at the sight of Riley's unmarked skin. The light in the air grew brighter as the sun brought in the day. They remained as they were until it rose higher in the sky, and Ellie shut her eyes, her body tensing up.

"What's wrong?" Riley asked, but just as quickly Ellie relaxed again, lifting up her head and looking out to the opposite hill across the bridge.

"Nothing. I think the nightmare's starting to fade." She said, a tightness in her voice. Where there was relief, there was also sadness. Riley bumped her shoulder to Ellie's, not wanting to allow her to dwell any longer than she needed on nightmares that had no chance of coming true.

Ellie looked to their linked hands; arms stretched out and pressed together. Riley was warm and alive beside her, and it seemed strange to think of this person—her best friend—carrying a gun around, fighting against infected when they had other things to worry about, like their families, and school.

"Riley?"

Brown eyes found her right away, pupils going wide at having Ellie in its sights. The only stress carried in that face was the worry she had over Ellie, because of her dreams, not because Riley was beginning to turn and Ellie wasn't, and not because Riley didn't know how to tell Ellie she was going to leave.

"Yeah?"

Riley watched her, waiting expectantly. Her eyes flickered down for a moment, and Ellie smirked. The nightmare hadn't been real, none of it. Which meant they still had plenty of time.

"I'm glad you're alive."


End file.
